Chiggers and Making it out of San Jose

Lazy Sunday in Boquete... This is our last full day here. I just woke up from a nap.

Earlier we walked a winding mountain road to get a view of the city -- beautiful. On our way back down we could see a large group of protesters carrying signs and flags as they marched down the main drag of Boquete. We made it down into town in time to see the protesters march through the town center. This mine is serious business. I hope the people fighting against the Man can make a difference. After taking some pictures, we headed back to the hostel. We also found an ice cream parlor that sold cones for 35 cents. Score!

We're going to continue relaxing today and will be going to dinner at a much-recommended restaurant called Macchu Pichu -- we wouldn't miss it, Jerry!

We've really enjoyed our time here. Boquete is beautiful, safe and peaceful.

Here's a recap of what we enjoyed on Friday and Saturday...

Friday started out very mellow. We had our usual breakfast of fresh pineapple, pastries, and Boquete coffee outside of our hostel along side the river. This was going to be our last day at Rio de Refugio and we wanted to soak in it's beauty.

After hanging out on our deck along the river and a quick lunch we headed over to Mamallena to meet up with our buddy Andrew and go for a hike to a waterfall. We ran into our buddy Paul who we'd met the night before. He was supposed to have left early that morning, but he just couldn't pull himself away from this beautiful little hamlet. He'd already hiked to the waterfall but decided to join us anyhow.

The waterfall hike was beautiful. It felt like we were hiking through a prehistoric jungle. We trekked for a couple hours until we hit the falls. We weren't sure what to expect. We were blown away. The waterfall towered hundreds of feet into the cloud forest. Birds swooped in and out of the mist surrounding the falls. The cool wind whipped water in our faces as we stood in away of the towering plume of water.

Paul was brave enough to take a dip in the tiny cold pool of the falls. The rest of us enjoyed the view from a distance.

After taking some great pics and having a snack, we headed back down the trail to catch a shuttle.

While waiting on the side of the road for a shuttle, an American guy, all dressed up in the most expensive hiking gear, walked up, pointed at us, and matter of factly said, "you guys are gonna get chiggers." He pulled up his pant leg to show us horrible red welts that covered his entire leg. "Doesn't matter if you wear pants, bug spray and long socks. You're going to get them and they're going to itch like hell and keep you up all night," he continued.

What? Who was this guy! He then got in his fancy SUV -- with LOTs of extra room that could have easily fit three more people -- and sped back into town! We were now terrified that soon our gams would be taken over by tiny red painful welts and we had to wait another half hour for the shuttle.Well, the jokes on THAT guy because we all came out chigger free. Though, I'm still terrified of getting bit by these nastly bugs -- or whatever the hell they are!

After our hike, we had dinner at a local restaurant called Central Park. Sounds expensive, but we managed to have dinner for four for under $20. Not too shabby. We finished dinner and gussied ourselves up to go out on the town. We went to a place called Zanzibar to enjoy live music and have a few beers with our buddies before they headed out on the road. We had some good laughs and heard some great travel stories. We weren't up for any late night craziness, so we all headed out before midnight. We said our good byes to Andrew and Paul and headed home. We were sad to see them go. Having good travel buddies makes the trip even better.

Saturday was another mellow day. We checked out of the Rio de Refugio and moved over to our new spot at Mamallena. The two places couldn't be more different, but we love them both. At the first hostel we saw maybe three people and the place was silent. At Mamallena people are always coming and going and we're right in the city center.

We met a girl from Quebec in the early afternoon and invited her along on a hike.
We were excited to check a new trail and hoped to get far up into the cloud forest. Unfortunately our hike abruptly ended when the trail that was to go on for miles ended at a fence surrounding farmland. We were disappointed but the scenery was beautiful and the company was good.

We decided to walk the four miles back to town rather than cab it. We built up an appetite on our long stroll and the three of us popped over the American restaurant next door to the hostel for pizza, which was surprisingly delicious -- oh and cheap. I'm seriously turning into Chris - we both love seeing how little money we can spend in a day and still enjoy ourselves, of course.

Chris and I were expecting the hostel to be a party scene on a Saturday night and were pleasantly surprised when we returned to the hostel only to find a handful of people hanging out in the courtyard. We popped open a bottle of wine and talked to our new friend from Quebec. She's been traveling for months and told us some crazy stories about vendors selling old dentures on the streets of Marakessh and camel heads hanging from butcher shops. I love travel stories!

So that about wraps it up for now. I'm still trying to recover from this cold. Ugh! We're looking forward to the Cloud Forest hostel and we're hoping to meet some new friends. Traveling buddies really add to the experience and can also give helpful pointers on cool places to go and places not to go! Oh, almost forgot... apparently, San Jose, C.R. is terrifying! We heard sooo many stories of people getting robbed in the train station and were told to not even walk one block outside of the station! What? Costa Rica is supposed to be such a sweet and friendly place. So, we're trying to avoid San Jose, or will only go there in the early morning. We also got word that our buddy Paul made it out alive, so that's good.

Alright, that's all for now.

Buenos Tardes!